Microelectronic devices are used in a wide array of products. These devices, including but not limited to memory and microprocessor chips, have been used as components of computers, telephones, sound equipment, and other electronic consumer products. Over the years, manufacturers have improved such microelectronic devices. For example, manufacturers have invented new microprocessor chips with faster processing speeds, and with other improved characteristics, all at a lower cost and price to the end user. These lower prices have made possible the use of such microelectronic devices in products in which they had not previously been used, or in which they had been only sparingly used, such as appliances, motor vehicles, and even lower priced goods, such as toys and games. The increased use of microelectronic devices in such products has enabled their manufacturers to lower the products' cost, provide the products with new features, and increased the products' reliability. The increased speed, versatility, and cost-effectiveness of these microelectronic devices have even facilitated the creation of entirely new types of products.
A major factor in the development of these improved microelectronic devices has been the equipment and methods used in their manufacture. The semiconductor manufacturing industry is constantly seeking to improve the processes and machines used to manufacture microelectronic circuits and components, such as the manufacture of integrated circuits from semiconductor wafers or workpieces. The objectives of many of these improved processes and machines include: decreasing the amount of time required to process a wafer to form the desired integrated circuits; increasing the yield of usable integrated circuits per wafer by, for example, decreasing contamination of the wafer during processing; reducing the time and/or number of steps required to create the desired integrated circuits; improving the uniformity and efficiency of processes used to create the desired integrated circuits; and reducing the costs of manufacture.
In order to decrease wafer contamination, many manufacturing processes are carried out in a self-contained clean environment, or fab, as it is commonly known in the semiconductor industry. Additionally, semiconductor workpieces are often housed in a container (e.g., a cassette or front-opening unified pod (FOUP)) and moved from machine-to-machine, or to-and-from the fab during the manufacturing process. The containers for housing semiconductor workpieces often become contaminated with impurities such as dust, dirt, material particles (e.g., metal particles or photoresist particles), and even process chemicals. Thus, in order to decrease wafer contamination and increase integrated circuit manufacturing yields, the containers must be cleaned from batch-to-batch. Existing cleaning equipment requires a human operator to load and unload the containers in batches. Human operators, however, increase the likelihood of contamination and reduce efficiency thereby increasing the overall process time required to clean the containers.
The present invention provides an automated apparatus for cleaning semiconductor workpiece containers. Because human operators are not required to load and unload the apparatus of the present invention, the likelihood of contamination is decreased and the overall cleaning process time is reduced, thereby increasing process efficiencies. A full discussion of the features and advantages of the present invention is deferred to the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.